Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Students' physical fitness is a fundamental factor that ensures the health and vitality of both individuals and society. Exercise increases heart rate, metabolism, and energy levels, and regular physical activity can play a significant role in preventing mental health disorders. Learning styles refer to individuals' preferred methods for receiving and processing information, which can influence the level of physical activity and fitness among students. Some students may benefit from visual or kinesthetic learning styles, allowing them to engage more effectively with physical and motor activities. At the same time, others may prefer verbal or auditory styles, which could impact their interaction with physical activities.
Additionally, mental health acts as a mediating factor in this relationship. Mental health, which includes psychological well–being, self–efficacy, and the ability to cope with stress, can either enhance or diminish the effects of learning styles on physical–motor fitness. Therefore, considering the importance of physical and mental health, this study examines the relationship between learning styles, physical fitness, and mental health in secondary school students.
Methods: The research method of this study was correlation–analytical analysis based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population consisted of secondary school students studying in Mahabad City, Iran, during the 2021–2022 academic year. The inclusion criteria for the study included students in secondary high school, having sufficient attention level and appropriate academic performance, and the ability to cooperate with the researcher. The exclusion criteria for students from the study were their non–cooperation and unwillingness to continue participating in the interview. The student sampling method was multi–stage cluster randomization. In this way, initially, girls' and boys' schools were selected from among the upper secondary schools. In the next step, four schools were considered from them. Finally, three grades (10^th, 11^th, and 12^th) were randomly selected from the selected schools. Using multi–stage cluster sampling, 384 students were chosen as the sample. Of these, 12 questionnaires were excluded from the analysis, and data analysis was conducted based on 372 questionnaires. Data were collected using the General Health Questionnaire–12 (GHQ–12) (Goldberg, 1972), the Kolb Learning Styles Inventory (Kolb & Kolb, 2005), and the Perceived Physical Fitness Scale (Abadie, 1988). Data analysis was performed using the Pearson correlation coefficient test and structural equation modeling in SPSS version 27 and AMOS version 26. A significance level of 0.05 was considered for the tests.
Results: The results of the structural equation modeling showed that the proposed model had a good fit with the data (RMSEA=0.075, GFI=0.965, NFI=0.969, CFI=0.979, AGFI=0.917, χ²/df=2.869). The path coefficients revealed significant direct relationships between learning styles and physical–motor fitness: concrete experience (p=0.036, β=0.137), reflective observation (p=0.031, β=0.148), abstract conceptualization (p<0.001, β=0.274), and active experimentation (p=0.014, β=0.221). Furthermore, the results of the indirect path coefficients showed that mental health acted as a mediating variable between learning styles and physical–motor fitness, with the following coefficients: concrete experience (p=0.006, β=0.072), reflective observation (p<0.001, β=0.135), abstract conceptualization (p<0.001, β=0.073), and active experimentation (p<0.001, β=0.146).
Conclusion: According to the study results, mental health plays a mediating role in the relationship between learning styles and students' physical–motor fitness. Therefore, by identifying each student's learning styles and strengthening mental health in a positive direction, it is possible to improve their health–related physical–motor fitness, especially their cardiovascular endurance.